Estes Park Opinion

Looking beyond the repairs

A temporarily-patched, 30-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 34 in the Big Thompson Canyon re-opened Thursday morning to great fanfare.

Not even an overnight snowfall could dampen the spirits of the residents and officials who attended the short ceremony outside the fire station in Drake.

And, why would it?

The re-opening may be the most impressive man-driven achievement since the Colorado-Big Thompson water project.

The devastation along U.S. 34 in the Big Thompson Canyon was so immense and overwhelming that word coming from canyon residents there was that it would take years to fix the road - the main thoroughfare from the Front Range to Estes Park.

Guess someone forgot to tell the Colorado Department of Transportation and the National Guard units who were tasked with putting the road back together.

After a slow start (due mainly to assessments), crews began to rebuild the road inch by inch, mile by mile. With each successful repaving, officials began considering the unthinkable - that the road might be re-opened by Dec. 1, a general target date given all of the affected Front Range highways.

Amazingly, U.S. 34 re-opened on Thursday just 11 weeks after the flood and a week ahead of schedule.

While it's a fantastic achievement well worth celebrating, we must remain realistic and not lose sight that this is just a temporary fix. In fact, all of the road work done to this point are temporary fixes.

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Permanent fixes will come next year. And, with those permanent fixes will come road construction and intermittent traffic stoppages. This will likely cause inconvenience for many used to traveling to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.

So while it's great to celebrate the re-opening of this key highway, we must also keep an eye to the future and figure a way to lure tourists back knowing that their travel will not likely be enjoyable.

Remembering our darkest day

Today is the 50th anniversary of one of the darkest days in the history of the United States - the day U.S. President John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

It's a date that is deeply, tragically imbedded into the consciousness of all baby boomers and many others. Ask almost anyone over 50 about that day and they can tell you exactly where they were, what they were doing, and what they felt.

You would likely get the same reaction from Gen Xers, Gen Yers and Millennials if you asked them the same questions about the events of Sept. 11, 2001. That was their darkest day.

It's a shame that each generation has to remember one of our country's dark days. But, it would be a bigger shame to forget them.

Fortunately, these dark days do have a silver lining. They unite us, make us stronger, and more resolved to preserving our democracy.

They remind us that no matter how great the tragedy we will pick up and move on because our way of life is worth fighting - and dying - for.

That's why we remember them.

E-mail us your thoughts of the Kennedy assassination and we'll run them online and in the print edition of the Trail-Gazette. Send your e-mails to jcordsen@eptrail.com.

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